Born in Breslau, Germany, in 1892 (some sources give 1893), Leopoldina Alitza Pelikan inherited the circus tradition from both her parents. In addition to languages, dancing, and piano, she early began learning the family aerobatic routines. In her youth she became a member of the aerial team known as the Leamy Ladies, consisting of her mother and two aunts, and in 1908 she came with the act to the United States. She took ╥Lillian Leitzel╙ for her professional name. For three years she appeared with the Leamy Ladies in the Barnum & Bailey Circus. She remained in the United States when the other members returned to Europe in 1911, and for a time she toured in vaudeville. In April 1915 she opened in a solo act with the Ringling Brothers Circus in Chicago. She was a center ring attraction with Ringling Brothers in 1916, with Barnum & Bailey in 1917, with Ringling again in 1918, and from 1919 on with the merged Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey, the ╥Greatest Show on Earth.╙
Leitzel╒s aerial act, produced with all the showmanship and drama the circus could muster, consisted of a display of gymnastic skill on roman rings suspended high above the center ring, followed by the feat that made her famous throughout the circus-loving world, the one-arm plange. Holding by one hand to a swiveled rope in the very peak of the big top, she pivoted her entire body on her shoulder sockets, turning faster and faster like a pinwheel while her mesmerized audience counted the revolutions up to 100. The grace, skill, and daring of the act, together with her own petite figure and beauty, made her Ringling╒s major attraction for years. In July 1928 she married Alfredo Codona (1893 ╨1937), considered the greatest flying trapeze artist in circus history. While performing at the Valencia Music Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark, in February 1931, Lillian Leitzel plunged to the floor when the swivel on one of her rings broke. She died two days later, on February 15, 1931.
